


Battle for a Soul

by sanbika



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Langst, M/M, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, Paladin Powers, Quintessence, Season 3 continuation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2019-05-05 22:04:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14627951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanbika/pseuds/sanbika
Summary: Keith forced the fire in his veins to a dull roar, knowing that he needed Haggar alive, that one move of his sword at her throat would cause him to fail his mission.And failure wasn’t something he would accept. He rasped at the dark figure, “Give him back to us. Now.“The witch smiled. “All you had to do was ask, halfbreed."





	Battle for a Soul

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic was brought on by rewatching the Azula and Zuko Agni Kai a couple (hundred) times. I cried writing it soooo Please listen to this on repeat if you feel like visualizing Keith and Lance and crying: [Last Agni Kai](https://youtu.be/YHPOnWczkXc) or you can try [Reconciliation](https://youtu.be/SknP1O3baRQ) from the ATLA soundtrack. 
> 
> Feel free to see this as a Klance or friendship fic. 
> 
> The only other thing to know is that in this universe, the Paladins have evolved the powers of their lions and that Lance succumbed to his insecurities while Keith was acting as Black Paladin and fell under the sway of Haggar after he was captured.

Keith forced the fire in his veins to a dull roar, knowing that he needed Haggar alive, that one move of his sword at her throat would cause him to fail his mission. 

And failure wasn’t something he would accept. 

He rasped at the dark figure, “Give him back to us. Now.“ 

The witch smiled. “All you had to do was ask, halfbreed." 

His hand twitched, correcting itself before something outrageous could happen, like Haggar’s head sailing across the floor. Still, she noticed the weakness and met his gaze, a farcical smile twisting across her thin face. 

Keith kept his gaze impassive and tightened his grip. This was no cat and mouse game. One false move and she’d be dead and Lance’s location lost forever. 

"I’ll call him over. Don’t do anything rash now. You wouldn’t like the consequences.” She turned and cackled into the hall, “We are ready for you, Paladin." 

And Keith froze. Why was Lance just waiting for him? Why would Haggar let him roam free after months of imprisonment? 

A curling wave of danger hit the back of his mind and rolled in his gut and he jumped back just as a spray of sharp ice shards shot out from the dark corridor. 

A familiar figure strolled forward, tall and lanky just had he remembered. But no longer in the white suit of the paladins but the black and purple that he hated so much. He could barely recognize him. 

Lance seemed ethereal, seemed lankier, like he hadn’t been fed, and looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. Considering Haggar had imprisoned him, both were likely. His hair was unkempt, falling into his eyes and long past his ears. 

It could be an imposter if he didn’t instinctively know him, his aura, his quintessence. The part of them connected by Voltron and more, told him that this was their lost friend, shattered by the druids and remade into… something. 

His eyes were the worst, like he wasn’t really seeing anything. Blue chips flinty and cold, no hint of warmth or humor. 

And something else was off. Lance held himself tightly straight but as though his spine was twisted around itself. His head cocked at angle made him seem arrogant. He was not here as a friend. 

As his face was lit up, Keith could see a cruel half-smile. "Keith, you’re not gonna fight back?” Lance bowed his head low and chuckled darkly. “Scared you’ll lose?" Keith lowered his bayard, fighting the wave of cold fear that overtook him. 

"Lance, what are you doing? I don’t want to fight you!" 

Lance looked up, eyes narrowed with something colder than hatred. It was hard to see in the strange Galran light, but it looked like he was faintly glowing, a dark aura surrounding him. 

Keith glanced over towards the witch to see a similar glow surrounding her hands and that feral grin marring her face. 

"Of course you don’t. Why would Voltron’s best bother with a second-rate cargo pilot, right?" 

He took a step forward, raising his palms just as Coran and Allura had taught them to and the frost that Keith was so used to counting on in battle started to appear on his fingers. 

He quickly put away his bayard and called on the lethal combination of powers he had acquired: controlling the air as the Black Paladin, and summoning fire as the Red. 

He could barely stop himself from growling. "Lance, listen to me, please. Haggar is using you! She’s done something to you! Come back to Voltron! You’re ours! Our Blue Paladin! Open your eyes!" 

Before he had finished he had to throw himself back to avoid the barrage of ice sent his way. Lance laughed again, panting even though he had barely moved. "But Keith, that’s exactly what she did for me. She opened my eyes to see that Voltron will NEVER need me when they have YOU!" 

And Lance shut his mouth and ran at him, summoning a wave of dark water that Keith barely beat away with a gust of cold wind. 

Before he could do anything, a second wave came from behind him and smothered him, wild currents pulling him to the ground in a whirlpool. Keith struggled, trying to hold as much air in as he could. He gathered his strength and moved his arms outwards to create a crest of fire, blasting the water away. 

Without thinking he punched his fist out, shocked, and a funnel of red flames hit Lance on his chest, too fast to dodge. The former paladin fell a few feet away before he rose again, baring his teeth, eyes glittering dangerously. 

Haggar hissed from her spot by the wall, "You see, don’t you, they want you dead! They want you gone, just as I told you.” Lance stood with his head down, trembling terribly for a long minute. He looked like he was fighting tears. 

Haggar spoke again, “Quickly! Finish him before he kills you!" 

Keith shouted out, "No, Lance, don’t listen!" 

But it was too late, the other teen lifted his head out of shadow, sneering. He staggered forward, gasping, and Keith realized then that the aura he’d seen wasn’t imaginary. It was still there, darker and brighter at the same time, more tangible than before. 

Haggar wasn’t giving Lance more power, more strength. She was stealing it from him, taking it from his very life force. That’s why Lance was stronger than he’d ever been…. and why he was falling apart, taking deep huffing breaths and barely keeping his balance as he threw out punishing attacks. 

"NO! LANCE!" 

It took all his strength to block the ice that flew at him, and even then some of it had stuck him through the thigh. Keith burned it away, ignoring the stream of blood oozing down his leg as he realized he’d need to overwhelm Lance if he had any chance of saving him. 

But he didn’t have water, or earth, or plant life, something he could use to somewhat gently stun Lance. His weapons were all fury and danger. He could steal the breath away from him. He could burn him. And he’d have to or Lance would literally fight to his death. 

Haggar was trying to kill Keith at any cost. 

Keith dodged again, and again, and again. He had no choice and finally kicked out, creating a vortex of flame that flew too fast for Lance to dodge. 

The paladin barely managed to erect an ice barrier but the fire licked up his arms and the sleeves of his armor briefly. Lance shrieked and stumbled back, before tearing at his clothes and screaming at Keith. 

"I knew it,” he grit out, using his ice to briefly soothe his burning arms. Tears slid down his cheeks. and his face was twisted with anger and pain. “I knew she was right. That you all wanted me out. That YOU wanted me out!" 

Lance laughed again, a bitter high-pitched wail that was almost a cry. Keith took a step forward before being forced back from Haggar’s lightning. 

"It’s not like that. She’s killing you, Lance!” He felt droplets burn their way down his cheeks. He could barely speak from the smoke and ash, his own emotion drowning him. 

Lance looked up slowly, his face lit with a grim smile and shattered eyes. Body swaying but voice soft and steady. 

“Let’s end this, Keith." 

No. 

No. 

He grasped for anything, any memory to convince Lance that he was trying to save him, but the witch had a grasp too strong to fight: Lance’s mind was infected and had been over the months he’d been missing. It would take twice as long to heal him, save him from the darkness. 

Keith could only pray that they’d make it out alive now. 

And the battle began again, harsher and faster. 

Lance attacked, fell, stood, was burned, and attacked again. He stopped talking and just stared with those accusing eyes. 

No self-preservation, no defense, just careless aggression. 

Keith teetered on the edge of panic. He had to save his friend. He had no way to save his friend. Shards of ice ripped into him, making sharp cuts and stabbing his face, his arms, his legs. Every hit from his fellow paladin carved into his heart. 

Finally Lance raised a hand, cradling in it an orb glowing an eerie blue-white. 

And Keith felt that instinctual warning not to let Lance attack with that. That the quintessence lost would finish Lance, forever, and possibly him. 

So he took a long breath and pushed past all the distractions, past the worry whether Allura and Hunk had succeeded in rescuing Shiro, or whether Pidge, Coran, and Matt were fending off the Galra. 

He found the fabric of his courage inside him and wrapped it around his heart in one moment. Then Keith let it go with a desperate scream, wrapping hot air around burning fire, creating a bomb and flinging it at Lance and Haggar. 

As soon as he threw it, he could see the reflection in the pinpoint of Lance’s eye, the fear, and he ran after it, praying that the other paladin would draw an ice-shield up somehow. 

But it struck the Blue Paladin too fast in a torrent of wind and flame. Haggar shrieked as the heat and fire washed over her too and he lost track of her, focused on Lance. 

He was covered in burns, red shine and sooty skin on his hands, arms, and face, Galra armor seared off, and barely awake, barely alive. 

He couldn’t move at all, and only cried out in anger, gasping, unable to stop from crying, the hurts in his mind as bad as his physical injuries. 

Keith’s own voice was barely there, as he cradled Lance and rasped into his helmet. "Coran, we need immediate extraction. I-I’ve got Lance. But you need to hurry. It’s touch and go right now." 

And he waited for his team, all of his focus on his friend, on the sighs and sobs, trying to sooth them with quiet hushes.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [tumblr!](https://figandmelon.tumblr.com)


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